A SCHEME to raise the awareness of how vacant properties in the county could be brought back into everyday use is now under way.

Monmouthshire County Council is currently consulting with town and community councils to identify empty properties, both in the countryside and in urban areas, that could be given a new lease of life.

So far many buildings that have remained empty for a substantial period of time have been identified as vacant or derelict by a steering group, which will undertake to assess each property to see if any can be reinstated in any shape or form.

The steering group started by examining the list of empty properties from council tax registers to assess how many properties within the county were registered as being empty.

This process identified that 445 properties were empty across the county with around 65 in Abergavenny area.

The local authority is now in the process of putting owners of these empty dwellings in touch with housing associations or other private rental organisations to suggest that some of these homes could be leased to them for a fixed time period.

But in the countryside the solution was not quite so obvious as the group have unearthed a number of unregistered derelict buildings to assess.

Doug Wood owner of Woodlake Park Golf Club in Glascoed said that he has a number of redundant farm buildings that could be utilised.

He said: "The farm, on which the golf course stands, has a number of barns and out buildings that are no longer required since it ceased being an active farm almost two decades ago, but one building stands out from the rest.

"Most of these buildings are just rusting steel and tin structures, but one of them is ripe for conversion.

"It's a 1964 single-storey building of solid construction that used be a cow shed, but is now slowly becoming an eyesore.

"It was built with no meaningful architectural merit, but I have been refused planning permission to convert it into a residential dwelling because I was informed that it would not reflect the rural character and design of the original building."

Councillor Val Smith, chairman of the steering group said: "To build up a register of empty buildings, whether they be empty dwellings in town or semi or completely derelict buildings in the countryside is a huge task.

"However, this former cow shed on the edge of the golf course could be a prime example of what type of structure could be converted into a usable building for the 21st century.

"It's obvious the building is no longer part of a working farm. It hasn't been used for over 18 years and its become quite an eyesore, especially as it is next to a huge rusting barn, which would be demolished if the owner ever achieved planning permission.

"Its only one building, but if enough individual schemes, that had local approval, were brought forward it might ease the pressure on the authority in attempting to allocate sites for 4,000 new homes in the county.

"Leaving semi-derelict buildings as an eyesore in the countryside is not an option for me,"?said Councillor Smith.

"We have to accept that farming methods have changed over the years and as a result a lot of agricultural buildings have now become redundant and I feel they need to be utilised in a new way,"?she added.

"Mr Wood has been refused planning permission to convert this building into a small home, but I think that it would make more sense to convert it into a holiday let, especially as the views over the golf course are superb and it would be seen as part of a tourism venture."